Charles edward robbins



I (No Model.)

0. E. ROBBINS.

I FILTERING'VENTILATOR POR CARS. No. 514,277,

Patented Feb. 6, 1894.

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CHARLES EDWARD ROBBINS, OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE.

FlLTERlNG-VENTILATOR FO R CAR S.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 514,27 7, datedFebruary 6, 1894.

Application filed November 22, 1892. Serial No. 452,806. (No model.)

T at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES EDWARD ROB- BINS, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Memphis, in the county of Shelby and State ofTennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFiltering-Ventilators for Cars; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same. I

This invention relates to that class of devices which are used forventilating and for filtering the air'for railway cars, and its objectis to provide means whereby the traveling movement of the car will forceair into the car;

means whereby dust, smoke and cinders will be filtered from the air inits passage into the car, and means whereby these objects will beaccomplished automatically whether the car be run one end first or theother.

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination ofparts forming a, filtering ventilatorfor cars hereinafter described andclaimed,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure I, is a side elevation of a portion of a passenger car, showingthe location and exterior appearance of my filtering ventilator attachedthereto. Fig. II, is an elevation of a portion of the inner side of acar showing a part of my ventilator. Fig. III, is a longitudinalvertical section through the body of my ventilator on a larger scale.Fig. IV, is a transverse vertical section at the line x of Fig. III.

represents a tank which is intended to be partly filled with water, and6 is an overflow cock located at the proper height for the top of thewater, and it is used to draw the water down to that level when the tankis filled.

7 is a discharge cock entering the bottom of the tank. This cock isadapted to draw off all the water whenever it is desirable to empty thetank.,

8 and 9 represent two trumpet-shaped openings or mouths, facing inopposite directions, and communicating at their inner end with a chamber10 which opens into the tank above the water. 7

i 11 is a valve hinged at 12 within the chamessary to this inventionthat the mouths 8 and 9 be located at the outside of the car at anyconvenient point of the side, top, or bottom thereof, and that thechamber 10 shall form communication between the mouths 8 and 9 and thetank 5, and the tank may be located outside or inside of the car.

15 is a screen removably located within the tank a little distance abovewater level. This screen consists of a series of plates 16 preferably ofsheet metal fixed upon two rods 17, and located in a vertical positionat a little distance apart, and entirely across the tank.

18 is a partition extending longitudinally of the tank in a verticalposition from the top of the tank down to the screen. The inlet chamber10 com niunioates with the tank at one side only of the partition 18,and 19 represents a delivery-pipe communicating with the tank above thescreen at the opposite side of the partition 18 from the inlet chamber.

Y 20 is a valve in the delivery-pipe 19, whereby the flow of air intothe car may be regulated.

21 is a lid covering the tank 5 and adapted to be raised or removedtherefrom for the purpose of opening the tank to fill it, or to removethe screen for cleaning.

The operation is as follows: The tank having been filled with water tothe level of the overflow cock 6, and the screen and the lid returned totheir places, if the car be run either way air will be pressed into thatone of the mouths 8 or 9 which faces forward. In the drawings the car issupposed to be moving in the direction of the arrow 22, Fig. III, andthe air pressing in at the mouth 8 against the valve 11 opens the latterand is directed thereby in a current downward through the screen 15 tothe top of the water in the tank. At the same time the normal tendencyof the valves to remain closed is aided in the valve 13 by the action ofthe air coming in at mouth 8 and prevents exit of the air through themouth 9, so the air will be forced beneath the partition 18 and bedischarged through the delivery-pipe 19. The movement of the car causesthe water in the tank to be frequently slopped up through the screen,and the air being forced through the screen thus wet, is freed from anyparticle of smoke, dust, cinders or other floating matter, such foreignmatter being caught by and sticking upon the sides of the wet screenplates. If the water were so high in the tank as to be constantlybetween the screen plates the air could not pass, but the water beingbelow the screen is caused by the usual movement of the car in travelingto slop up often enough to dampen the plates and to wash off the dustwhich accumulates thereon, and such accumulation settles in the bottomof the tank from which itmay be withdrawn at the end of a route, or atany other suitable time, by means of the discharge cock 7. Should thescreen become so dirty that the water will not clean it by the lightslopping movement described the screen may be removed from the tank andbe washed in any convenient manner.

It will be seen that this device is always ready for operation whetherthe car faces one way or the other, as the air being forced into eithermouth will close the valve of the other and find its own exit within thecar, and in its passage to the interior of the car it is filtered fromall foreign substances.

The delivery-pipe 19 might be hung so as to swing as indicated in dottedlines 23, or the pipe may be of india-rubber or other flexible materialso thatits delivery end may be swung to any convenient point for thebenefit of any passengers who may desire to feel the direct current ofair.

There may be many small ventilators for each car, or one large one maybe so arranged as to answer the purpose; and theinlet of air to the car,instead of being through pipes 19 hanging in sight, may be throughcommon registers in the casing of the car, passages corresponding to thepipe 19 leading to such registers from the ventilators.

It would be a great boon to those who travel in closed cars to be alwaysprovided with fresh air filtered from all impuries as described.

This filtering device may be so proportioned as to require no careexcept that which may be given by the usual car-cleaner at the end ofthe route.

A common wire screen substituted. for my screen of plates would not bean equivalent thereof because the fine wire meshes would soon be cloggedby bits of leaves and other matter gathering upon the top, while myscreen plates are so located as to form long openings through which suchmattersas fioat in the air may readily be washed into the tank below.

This device is automatic, effective, simple and inexpensive.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I believe to be new, anddesire to'secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

1. The combination in a ventilator for cars of a water tank; a screencomprisinga series of plates located side-by-side in a vertical positionover the Water space in the tank; a vertical partition above the screendividing that portion of the tank into two compartments, and passagesfor admitting outdoor air into one compartment and for discharging thefiltered air from the other compartment, substantially as described.

2. The combination in a ventilator for cars, of a tank having water inits lower portion and a screen having plates located above the water invertical positions forming narrow openings between the plates throughwhich the water may slop to wash them by the action of the car,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I alfix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES EDWARD ROBBINS.

Witnesses:

ANDREW JOHNSON, OURRAN DAVIDSON.

